Virginia Dox
|birthyear=1851 |deathyear=1941 |birthdate=October 15 |deathdate=February 14 |location=Wilson, NY Oxford, ID Hartford, CTAddresses given as 9 Olds Place (1923), 195 Barker (1909). |period=Seminary |is_alum=Yes |is_faculty=Yes }} Virginia Dox was a student at Shimer College in the Seminary period, graduating in 1875. She worked as a missionary and educator in the American West, and later as a fundraising agent on behalf of schools including Whitman College and Berea College. After graduating, Dox stayed at Shimer for some time as an instructor of English and music. Her exact dates of service are unclear, but she is listed in the 1877 board of instruction for these subjects. She subsequently attended the University of Michigan from 1880 to 1881, studying medicine, but did not graduate. Dox was an early explorer of the Grand Canyon, where she was guided by William Bass in 1891. She was reportedly the first white woman to visit the Havasupai nation. The "Dox Castle" outcropping and related Dox Sandstone formation are named for her. She also reportedly gave the Holy Grail Temple there its original name, "Bass Tomb". Dox became an honorary member of nine tribes, including the Tuscarora and Shoshone. The Tuscarora (according to her) gave her the name "U-Hoox-Stah-Nat", meaning "Bright Light".For partial etymology, see root huk-'': http://books.google.co.kr/books?id=l-Kpy6WiOwoC&pg=PA239#v=onepage&q&f=false She was also a collector of American Indian artwork, donating her collection to Bowdoin College in 1893 as the "Virginia Dox Collection of American Antiquities". Mentioned *in "Personals", ''Oread, August 1891, p. 24: *:Miss Virginia Dox was called last winter to the Mexican Department of the Academy at Albuquerque, N. M., under the auspices of the N. W. E. C. She remains in charge of the Mexican Department and continues to use her pen in behalf of the poor people in whom she is interested. *in "Personals", Oread, August 1895, p. 32: *:Miss Virginia Dox has been lecturing in Spencer, Iowa. A friend writes of her: "What a wonderful woman she is - She says Dr. and Mrs. Shimer and the Seminary made her, and fitted her for her present responsible duties." *p. 33: *:Miss Dox has been appointed recently to speak for Whitman College. She has been sent to Walla Walla to look over Whitman's old tramping ground. After this she expects to spend some time in the cities of the North-west and, also, those down the Pacific coast. All who know her believe she will succeed in this good work. *in Berea Citizen, 1904-09-29, p. 1: *:Miss Virginia Dox, formerly missionary in the Indian Territory, will speak in the Tabernacle Sunday night. *in Frances Shimer Quarterly 1:1, March 1909, p. 22: *:Miss Virginia Dox, '75, now residing in Hartford. Conn., has rendered large service in educational ways in past years for Berea College in Kentucky, and Whitman College. *in "The Family Scattered", Frances Shimer Quarterly 1:3, October 1909: *:Miss Virginia Dox, '75, writes from Hartford, Conn., concerning the death of Miss Caroline White at her home in Delta, New York. Miss White was for many years a much loved teacher in the school. *in The Life of Dr. D.K. Pearsons, 1911, pp. 199-200: *:If Dr. Pearsons should have the credit of refounding and developing Whitman College, the part which Dr. Nixon had in it must not be overlooked. It was through him that the labors of Miss Virginia Dox, a very gifted young woman, were secured to present its interests wherever in New England she could obtain a hearing. The amount of money which through her came into the treasury of the college was in the aggregate quite large, sufficient in fact to enable the college to carry on its work until an endowment placed it upon a solid financial foundation. But there were years of waiting. The college was far away from those centers of civilization in which givers to educational institutions reside. It was difficult to make them feel the need of a college in a territory so thinly populated. The gifts of Dr. Pearsons, the publication of the Life of Marcus Whitman by Dr. Nixon, the labors of Miss Dox and Rev. Mr. Maile of the Education Society, gradually drew the attention of benevolently inclined persons to the college and led them to listen favorably to appeals on its behalf. *in Whitman: An Unfinished Story, Stephen B.L. Penrose, 1935, pp. 149-150: *:Miss Virginia Dox was secured at the suggestion of Dr. Nixon to act as financial agent for the College. This remarkable woman had been a missionary in Utah, a teacher and a field representative of the New West Education Commission. Eloquent, dramatic, picturesque and indefatigable she became filled with enthusiasm for the memory of Dr. and Mrs. Whitman and the college founded in their honor which she had never seen. She devoted herself with fiery ardor and tireless energy to completing the Pearsons Endowment Fund. She told the Whitman story all over the middle states and the Mississippi Valley in hundreds of churches and to thousands of individuals. She begged for gifts, large or small, and by her thrilling oratory as well as by personal persistence she completed the raising of the fund within the given time. She wore herself out in the service of the College. Dr. Pearsons was so impressed by her original and self-sacrificing personality that he recommended the College to continue her in its employ after the completion of the campaign, and advised that she be appointed Instructor of American History on the College Faculty. The announcement was made in the catalogue of 1899 but the position was never filled. Miss Dox's health had broken irretrievably, and, after a winter on half-pay in Cuba seeking in vain to recover her strength, she resigned as field secretary of the College and severed her connection with it, greatly to the regret of all connected with the institution. It is faint praise to say that but for the labors of this gifted, eccentric, indomitable woman the first financial campaign of Whitman College would have ended in failure or been long delayed. *in Levi Noble: Geologist, USGS Open-File Report 02-422, Lauren A. Wright and Bennie W. Troxel, 2002, p.: *:Noble named the Dox sandstone from exposures below Dox Castle, a large butte in the vicinity of the Bass Trail. Miss Virginia Dox, of Cincinnati, Ohio, visited the Grand Canyon in 1891. She apparently was the first woman to be guided by William Bass to the western part of the canyon and the first white woman to visit the Havasupai Indians. It is said that Bass, impressed with her intelligence and beauty, named the Dox Castle soon after she left. It is also said that Levi, in naming the Dox sandstone, visualized its red color as matching the flaming red hair of Miss Dox. *in Grand Canyon Place Names, Gregory McNamee, 2004, pp. 47-48: *:The name of this pillar and the associated Dox Formation honors "Miss Virginia Dox, pioneer lady visitor to the interior of the Canyon at this point." Ths according to the writer George Wharton James, who did not elaborate on why Miss Dox should have merited the recognition. In fact, she explored many buttes in the Canyon and gave Holy Grail Temple (q.v.) its original name, Bass Tomb. *in "Keene Industrial Institute (Keene, KY) / Beattyville Industrial Institute (Beattyville, KY) / W. H. Parker", Notable Kentucky African Americans Database, retrieved 2012-01-12: *: In November, 1901, the school was visited by Virginia Dox from Boston. It was an impromptu visit that was encouraged by Dr. W. G. Frost, President of Berea College. Virginia Dox had raised money for schools in the West and in Mexico. She encouraged W. H. Parker to continue his efforts and they would pay off in the long run. Profiled *by the Bentley Historical Library *in "Eldert Van Woert Dox", in Niagara County, New York, vol. 2, 1921, p. 829: *:Virginia Dox, the sixth member of the family under consideration, was born at Wilson, N. Y., Oct. 13, 1851, and has had a useful and somewhat notable life. She was educated primarily at Wilson, then attended the Lockport Union school, Claverack Seminary, N. Y., and Mt. Carroll Seminary, in Illinois, and studied medicine at the University of Michigan. For several years afterward Miss Dox was employed by the New West Educational Commission in work among the Mormons in Idaho, the Jesuits in New Mexico and the Indians in Oklahoma. She is a woman of remarkable personality and has lectured extensively and successfully in behalf of colleges all over the United States. *in "Virginia Dox l'80-81", The Michigan Alumnus vol. 47, 1941-07-07, p. 455: *:Virginia Dox, l'80-'81, pioneer teacher in the West, died on February 14, 1941, at her home in Hartford, Conn., at the age of 89. She has lived in Hartford for more than 30 years and had been an invalid for the past seven years. Early in her career she opened frontier schools and taught among the Indians and Mexicans. She had been made a member of nine Indian tribes and owned a fine collection of Aztec and Indian pottery and curios. These, together with her tribal costumes, she presented to Bowdoin College, where they are housed in the Walker Memorial in Brunswick, Me. This was the first college for men to allow Miss Dox to lecture to the students and she was asked by the faculty to repeat her lectures there several times. She also had lectured at Berea College and was connected as Financial Secretary with groups raising money for colleges and missions. Her greatest triumph in this work was for Whitman College at Walla Walla, Wash., which made her Professor of Physiology and American History in recognition of her efforts. *in "Our Homes", Gleanings in Bee Culture, vol. 24, 1896-12-01, pp. 866-868: *:I listened to a talk last Sunday evening from a woman whose lifework has been teaching in the far West. For many years she was in the employ of the New West Educational Society. She gave us a sort of word-picture of her labors in one little town In Idaho. She was sent there about fourteen years ago. At that time there were no schools within many miles in any direction. The children were growing up entirely destitute of school privileges, and they were really hungering for a school. The town as she found it was composed of cowboys, Indians, and a class of people who are often found in the vicinity of the mining regions of the far West. I hope that no reader of GLEANINGS will feel hurt when I mention that the Mormons were pretty well intrenched there at the time. One of the leading men of the town had fifteen wives all together. As a rule these Mormon friends were opposed to the Yankee school-ma'am, on general principles: for, as a matter of course, if she taught Christ Jesus she would,at least in the end, be a rebuke to polygamy. Our good friend Miss Virginia Dox was, however, agreeably surprised to find a warm welcome awaiting her. The fact is, the fathers and mothers, and children too, had been longing for a school, and they were so eager to see a school started In their town that they forgot all differences, and warmly welcomed the little schoolma'am. There was no schoolhouse in the town: but in order to begin work at once, a vacant dwelling was secured. Nobody knew how many pupils would come: but they thought that, if the largest room should not prove sufficient, she could occupy two rooms, the door being open between them. If I remember correctly, there was more than a roomful the very first morning. The juveniles took their places on cheap wooden benches that had been hastily provided, and waited anxiously to see what the schoolma'am was going to say to commence with. Her remarks were something as follows: *:"Children, we expect to have a real good time here together; but in order to do so we must have law and order. Now, I am not going to read a lot of rules, but I am going to give you just one rule to take the place of all others. This one rule must be that we love each other. Unless I love you, I can not really do you any good; and unless you love me, you can not really do me any good; therefore the one rule of our little school is to be that we love each other." *:Under the influence of this same love between pupil and teacher, this school began to thrive. The children soon had such glowing accounts to give of the wonderful things that they had learned at the school that the older ones caught the enthusiasm and wanted to go too; and the little teacher gave each a very warm welcome. The older ones used tobacco, both boys and girls. She said that, if she had ruled out tobacco to start with, she would have ruled out the greater part of her pupils. Blasphemy among the older boys—aye, and some of the girls too—was also a common thing in that Idaho town. She did not stop the swearing all at once, but she made up her mind that it would have to go eventually. *:Pretty soon the parents caught the fever. Before the school opened, beer-drinking was so common that almost the whole of the inhabitants patronized the saloon more or less. This she passed by for a while; but her triumph came later on. When some of the parents talked about going to school she told them smilingly that she would do the best she could for all who wanted to come; and it was no uncommon thing to see fathers and mothers studying in the same class with their children. She mentioned seeing a man of forty-seven in the same class, and studying the same book, with his little girl seven years old; and the girl was the brighter and better of the two in their recitations. *:At first everybody who owned a dog—and almost every one did own one there in those days—had to bring that dog to school. Perhaps the dogs were curious in regard to the new points of interest; but by degrees the teacher managed to draw the line, excluding the dogs during school hours. Had she undertaken to banish the dogs at the outset it would probably have banished pupils, or a great part of them, as it was so common to see the dogs everywhere. *:By the way, dear friends, have you never noticed how common a thing it is to see a town of two or three hundred people all becoming enthusiastic over some particular new thing that comes up? This new thing may be pitching horse-shoes or playing marbles or flying kites; it may be skating in the winter time; it may be having spelling schools; yes, and some-times beer-drlnking and smoking tobacco seems to take the energies of all classes of one of these little towns. Under the guiding hand of some good and wise leader a community of this kind may all get a fever for getting an education: and what a glorious thing it is when this is the case! Well, this one town and the country roundabout seem to have been strongly taken with a wonderful craze to go to school and learn to read. The cowboys caught the fever, the Indians abandoned their usual habits, and they came too, and made their flat noses still flatter against the window-panes of the three-room schoolhouse. The teacher, it seems, had a wonderful gift for the work, and, besides, her heart was full of the grace of God and the love of Christ Jesus. She went out and took the Indians by the hand and won their confidence so as to bring them in also. When the mothers also began to come, bringing their babies with them to such an extent that it was a serious interruption to the lessons, she planned an evening school for the benefit of the mothers. The children could stay at home and take care of the babies while the parents went to the evening school. Perhaps some of you may laugh at the idea of such a school as Miss Dox kept. Instead of saying "yes" to a question from their teacher, she would be more likely to get "you bet, schoolma'am." She says she remembers one great stalwart specimen of manhood who was so slow in answering the questions she gave him that she was about to pass on to the next. Said he, "Just hold your horses, schoolma'am. I have got it all in my head, and I will get it all out on the square if you will only give me a little time." And, true to his promise, he did. *:When she had obtained a sufficient hold on the whole community by her cheerful and bright way of teaching, a Sunday-school was proposed. The Mormons held some sort of services on Sunday, and tbey raised some objection, fearing the new Sunday-school might conflict with their teachings. But she compromised the matter by agreeing to attend their Mormon services if they would attend her Sunday-school; and she even told them that they might convert her to their Mormon religion if they could do so. She had the grace of God in her heart all day long: and, as a consequence, the Sunday school flourished like the day school, and crowded every thing else into the background. *:The saloon-keeper was quite a friend to the school business until he saw that it was spoiling his custom; then he remonstrated some; but the good-natured school ma'am was too much for him. The profanity that had been so common was giving way day by day and week by week as the result of that Sunday-school, and people came from miles around to drink in the glad tidings that were sure to be proclaimed every Sunday. *:In the neighborhood was a girl of seventeen who was caring for a poor intemperate father and a family of children. In her zeal to have the children get an education she went out in the woods and cut down trees, and did almost every sort of man's work. She had such a reputation for training and breaking wild mules and horses that they named her Wild Anna; and when Miss Dox found her she was the center of a crowd gathered in front of the saloon while bets passed from mouth to mouth as to whether Wild Anna would succeed in conquering a vicious mule, as she had succeeded in taming all that had heretofore been brought to her. Anna had a peculiar gift for managing horses. She too caught the fever, however, and wanted to go to school and be taught to read and write. I can imagine how our little school ma'am thanked God when this great stout girl of only seventeen came to her to be taught as a little child. She had not been there many days before the schoolma'am look her by the arm and proposed that they should go out to walk one noontime. During that walk the teacher told her the story—the old, old story— of Christ and him crucified. The wild girl was touched. She confessed she had never heard any such wonderful story before. *:"Why, teacher, can this man of whom you have been telling me—can he be the Jesus whose name I have taken upon my lips, especially while with those men breaking their wild horses? Can it be that this one whose name I have so often taken in vain was he whom God sent down from heaven to call poor sinners such as I am to himself?" *:Then she stopped her coarse talk right then and there. As a means of providing food and clothing for the poor father and motherless children she kept on, I believe, using her rare gift and skill in training vicious horses; but from that day forward she was a friend of the little schoolma'am. *:In those days, in the mining towns remote from railways there were more or less stage-drivers; and among others who were called to come to that new Sunday school was one Jimmie Boyle, a stage driver. He had patronized the saloon so long that his clothes were ragged, his hair and beard untrimmed; and when one of his friends asked him to come, rough and rude as he was, he recognized the need of fixing up a little. Without saying a word to anybody he scraped up his money, made a long trip to Ogden, Utah, and purchased a brand-new suit of clothes. When somebody joked about it he told them his new suit was simply his "trotting-harness; " and much was the merriment when Jimmie presented himself so used up that nobody recognized him, and brought in the wake his wife and children. Henceforward he was a strong and faithful champion of the little school-ma'am and of the Sunday-school work. *:There was in the town a notoriously wicked man, but he was a man of some wealth. Somebody told the schoolma'am that, away back in days gone by, this man had been a professor of religion. She called on him, and God answered her prayers by causing the man to renounce his profanity and intemperance, and to come out clothed and in his right mind, a champion and defender of the Sunday-school. *:Three years had passed, and the reputation of that school was still growing, and pupils were coming from far and near. The untiring little woman who had already accomplished so much slipped in getting out of a wagon, and the result was such that she was obliged to go to a distant city for surgical relief. She returned with her limb in a plaster cast, telling her friends and pupils that sne would have to give up her school. When the news came, not only did the children and fathers and mothers implore her to stay, but the cowboys formed themselves into a committee, and volunteered to bring her in an easy wagon to and from the school, and carry her in her arm chair, if she would only go ou. *:"But, dear friends," said she, "how can I teach school in all three rooms when I can not even walk from one room to another?" *:"O schoolma'am! if you will only consent to stay and live with us as you have been doing we will all be so good that you won't need to walk from oue room to another." *:They kept their promise—at least they kept it so well that the school was continued in this way until she began to lose health from lack of exercise. But the cowboys were equal to this emergency. They procured a gentle pony for her, and a comfortable side saddle, and outside of school hours she went around from house to house and paid visits, the people coming out to the pony to tell her how much she was needed, and that they could not have her go away. *:Now, dear friends, I have given you only a part of that woman's talk on that Sunday evening. As she sat in our church, near the pastor's desk, before he had introduced her, I feel free to confess that I did not see any thing remarkable about her nor any thing particularly attractive. I could scarcely believe it possible that she was the talented woman of whom I had heard; but when she arose to speak, and her face was lighted by that Christlike spirit from within, then we began to understand the wonderful secret that had given her such success. It was the spirit of Christ that shone forth from every word and look that she gave us. Most of you, dear readers, have known something of such a town as I have described. May be some of you know places now where there are no schools or churches, and where there are children growing up like noxious weeds in a neglected garden. Many of you have seen the beneficial changes that have been brought about by schools and Christian churches. Let us consider the effect that shall go on down the ages as a result of this one mission teacher's work. At first she was paid no salary. If I am correctly informed, the Christian people of the State of Ohio paid her salary for several years. As the school progressed, however, the people of the town contributed more or less toward her support. One of the Mormon elders gave $100, even though her teaching was in direct opposition to his own creed. I hardly need tell you that the result of that work was the building of a church. After the Sunday-school was well started she found pupils in her day school capable of taking classes; and one of these pupils, a young lady, has since risen to prominence. The beneficial results that went out to the world from that little school with its poor appliances and surroundings, who can measure them? *:Very likely the incident I have given you is a remarkable one. I judge so from the fact that Miss Dox was afterward employed in starting schools in other localities. These schools were then handed over to some teacher who could do very well after things were set going, and then she was moved about from place to place. At present she is employed to solicit funds for the Whitman College, at Walla Walla, Wash., an institution in memory of Marcus Whitman, the founder of the great Northwest country. *in "Women's American Baptist Home Mission Society", in Baptist Home Mission Monthly vol. 9, 1887, p. 159: *:Miss Virginia Dox, a missionary and teacher among the Mormons, gave an interesting account of her educational work among the people of Oxford, Utah. When she arrived in that town there was not a school in the place. At one time the Mormons had ran what they called a school for a few weeks in each year, but it was so far from what it should be that it was closed. The missionary school was the first regularly organized institution of that kind in the town, and before it was opened the Mormons were warned by the Church not to send their children to it, but after it had been in operation a few weeks more than one-half of the children in the school came from Mormon families. This led the Mormons to see the inferiority of their school system, and they are now endeavoring to secure a better system of instruction. *:Miss Dox was soon made a welcome guest in all the Mormon families, and as a result of what she saw could not condemn the believers in the faith of the Mormon Church; she pitied them all and deeply. They were industrious and sober people, but they were bound by infatuation to the tenets of the Church, and would suffer even martyrdom for the cause they were so blindly supporting. Polygamy was causing much misery, yet some of the wives of the polygamists believed in the dual marriages, and said that they were happy in it because it was a part of their creed. So far as the children were concerned, she had no trouble in controlling them, making no rules, but trusting to their sense of honor. Under that system the school was a happy one for the three years she was in it. Her pupils ranged from a girl four years old to a man forty-five years of age. Several of them were cowboys, and from them she received the most courteous treatment. One pupil was a young mother with her babe in arms. When the school first opened every boy brought one dog, and some brought two; but rather than lose the pupils she kept both boys and dogs, and very fortunately she managed to maintain order with both boys and dogs. One other pupil was an uncouth, overgrown girl, eighteen years of age, who was noted as the best trainer of horses in that part of the country, in whose hands the wildest bronchos were speedily subdued. On Saturdays this girl spent her time in felling huge trees, and stripped them for the market. And yet that girl was influenced by the work of the school, and had developed into a kind-hearted, intelligent woman. *:Miss Dox, through a serious accident and sprained ankle, ascertained the true sympathy which dwelt in the hearts of those simple-minded people, and could truly say that while suffering from lameness, which prevented her from walking, she experienced happiness such as she had never felt before. In conclusion, she said that while there was not a Christian in that town when she entered it, there was now a regularly established school with two Christian teachers, a church edifice with a zealous pastor, and a congregation of worshipers at the foot of the Cross. Many Mormons are being converted, and many have become members of the Christian Church. Further inquiry *The work of Miss Virginia Dox : Whitman College financial agent, Wesley Dick, 1961 (at Whitman College) *There are oblique references in Whitman College materials to a location called "Dox", possibly a residential area of Prentiss Hall. References Category:Educators Category:Shimerians who founded schools Category:Missionaries Category:Photo sought Category:Biographable Category:Archival holdings exist Category:Toponymous Shimerians